Stems erect, often clustered, hollow below, 40–90 cm. Herbage glabrate to strigose. Leaflets oblanceolate to obovate, 3–7 cm long; stipules broader but shorter. Raceme dense, 10–20 cm long, longer than the leaves. Flowers 18–30 mm long; calyx pubescent; sepals 3–4 mm long. Legume erect, pubescent, straight, 4–6 cm long with 5 to 15 seeds (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Our plants are varieties
montana and
ovata (B.L. Rob. ex Piper) H. St. John.
Moist meadows, thickets, sagebrush steppe, forest, often along streams; valleys, montane (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap:
Bombus appositus,
Bombus auricomus,
Bombus bifarius,
Bombus centralis,
Bombus fervidus,
Bombus flavifrons,
Bombus huntii,
Bombus nevadensis,
Bombus rufocinctus,
Bombus occidentalis, and
Bombus griseocollis (Macior 1974, Thorp et al. 1983).